Fun days with Grand Aunt Pam!!!

We are such a blessed family to have so much loving support from our extended families. Here is Amelia enjoying one of her precious days with Aunt Pam. Pam and her have the best time playing ALL DAY doing whatever they decide to do at the moment. Their fun often includes: painting, playing Cootie's, Playdoh, gardening, playing with the dogs, hiding in haystacks, reading lots of books, eating delicious food, playing out in the water stream, playing with Calico Critter's "Mouse Family", digging rocks, sorting miniature figurines... you name it they have played it! What wonderful memories they are building together! Thanks, Pam for making Amelia such a special person in your life...you are one of her favorite people!!

A fun photo shoot!

Here are a few photos of Amelia at age 3 and Ro at 2.5 months. They turned out great!! Amelia really had a great time being the subject of the photo shoot, she was really hamming it up! Robert was a little sleepy, but Joni still managed to get some great photos of him, too!!! We love our children!!!

6 Years!

Amazing how the time really does fly by! I know I keep saying that but WOW... 6 years of being married to a fantastic guy! Where did I get my good luck??? We celebrated our anniversary this last Saturday, May 19th, by heading out for a delish sushi dinner and a movie. Amelia spent the afternoon with our dear friends Shelly and Dave. Robert joined us on our date and did great at the movies :) It sometimes seems like a lifetime ago, but at the same time it seems just like yesterday that I was walking down the isle to my sweet, honorable, loving, kind and terribly handsome groom. Now, we have our wonderful little family with the additions of Amelia, Ro and Skyler...so much join has been packed into these 6 years... we are so blessed. Thanks to our family and friends who have been there for us, supporting our little family and life together. We love you all!

We miss NANA!!!

It was such a blessing that Nana McNeil came to visit us while Dana was at his training at the first part of the month!!! We had such a wonderful time! I know that Amelia, Ro and I would have made it just fine, however, Nana helped make it SOOOO fun and completely enjoyable and stress free! Each day we had different adventures ranging from Dance Class, Music Class, Library Storytime, walks to the park, trips to go shopping, and playing out in the back yard. I was personally afforded many special luxuries from her visit... each morning Amelia bypassed my bedroom door to go straight to snuggle with Nana, allowing a few extra zzzz's. I was also able to make it out on a dinner date with my dear friend Shelly. We were gone for about 1 1/2 hours and enjoyed some adult conversation, catching up and some good food. We also enjoyed some good movies during the evening times after Amelia had peacefully been put to bed by Nana or me, while the other held Baby Robert. Normally I am balancing Robert and Amelia at bedtime, when Dana is at work, so it was a treat to get to read and snuggle with just Amelia at bedtime. Nana just jumped right in and took care of business, whether it was playing dressup, picking flowers, playing in the pool, bathtime, storytime, or cleanup time. We miss you already, Mom and can't wait until we can get together again soon! Thanks so much for everything!!!!

Amelia is a complete crackup!

I was practically rolling on the floor laughing!!!! My daughter is so funny, I know she is that way intentionally, but there are other times when I know she is being serious however ridiculous we think she is being :)

We all decided to go for a walk to the park. (All of us getting out the door at the same time/on time takes a lot of planning :)) So in order to get things going faster I asked Amelia to go to her room to get dressed to go to the park. She enthusiastically said "OKAY!" and off she went. Dana and I set out to get ourselves and Little Ro ready.

About 5 minutes later Amelia comes running downstairs dressed like THIS!!!! It really is a better story in person, but you'll have to imagine our surprise when she came around the corner, us expecting her to have on something like jeans/tshirt/socks and maybe even some good walking shoes shoes if she was really in the helpful spirit... but no, not one stitch of what she had on was suitable in itself to go for a walk. Now if she had these garments over something else... then great! Thanks, Amelia for the wonderful laugh... I'm laughing out loud again, just sharing this!! Amelia is so clever, fun and she makes my heart happy!!!

As it turns out she was excited enough to go to the park so we were able to talk her into something a little more practical :) You'll see her at the top of the slide if you decide to view the posted photo album :)

Dana is the MAN!

Sometimes I find it hard to know how to organize all the events going on in our world... so for now, Dana will get his very own entry this go around :) He has really been up to many things. During the first week of May he was in Helena for the MSTOA (Mountain States Tactical Officers Association) Convention. This is where all the SWAT/SRT members of the region get together to train on many different areas, learn from each other and do things they may not be able to do in their own areas. Dana said he really had a great time and enjoyed a ride in a Blackhawk Helecopter. The Helecopter is one they would use if needed on a call out. Also very noteworthy is that each year, all the participants compete against each other on 4 different events: handgun and rifle accuracy, rescue simulations, obstacle course in full gear, building clearing. The Bozeman participants were broken randomly into two different groups and the team that Dana was on WON the competition, placing 1st place!! YEAH for them! This is really special honor for the department as a whole and especially for those in the competition. Another big complement to this team is that 3 of the 5 members have not yet been to SWAT basic training, meaning they have been on the team for less than a year (including Dana). We are so proud of you!!!

Another special event for Dana's career was the Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Parade and ceremony this last Saturday. We are so proud of the work Police officers do each day and I was so happy they do something to honor those who have fallen in the line of duty. Officers and their families came from Canada and all over Montana. There have been two officer deaths in the past year in the state of Montana. It was a beautiful ceremony.

Dana was dressed in is formal uniform (completely handsome!) and was honored in carrying the United States Flag at the head of the Parade and participated in the posting of the colors at the ceremony after the parade. Enjoy the photo and please see others in the photo album to the right by clicking on the picture labeled MAY 2007.

Also this last week... Dana finally got up in the air!! YIPPEE!!! He spent about 3 hours total with an instructor on the ground and in the air. He said it was so great and that he's very excited about flying again! He has one more check out this next week, then he'll be back in business! I CAN NOT WAIT to go up again with my pilot man. (Side note: for those concerned few, please know that Dana is Mr. Safety with a capital "S").